A San Diego Superior Court judge on Tuesday ruled Huntington Beach violated state law when officials refused to plan for more housing to be built in the city, a major win for the state in its lawsuit filed more than a year ago.
Judge Katherine Bacal ordered the city to pass a new housing element compliant with state law within 120 days. A compliant housing element from the city would have to adopt zoning changes to allow developers to build at least 13,368 housing units this decade.
Housing elements lay the blueprint for where new development can occur and set policies to encourage affordable housing construction. The state sued the city in March 2023 after the City Council refused to pass an updated housing element.
State leaders celebrated the ruling.
“Huntington Beach is not above the law — that’s the essence of today’s ruling. Local governments up and down our state should take notice,” Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. “We are facing a housing crisis of epic proportions, and my office will continue to act with great urgency, working with cities and counties that genuinely want to be part of the solution and holding accountable those that do not.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom in a statement said, “From day one, my administration has been clear: local governments must be accountable for following state law and planning for their fair share of housing.
“That’s what this case has been about from the start, and we will continue to focus on accountability,” he said. “We can’t solve the decades-in-the-making crisis around housing without everyone doing their part, and this result makes clear the state is serious about enforcing the law.”
Huntington Beach city officials vowed to fight on and said they would appeal the ruling. They argued that increasing the amount of housing would be detrimental to the city and to residents’ quality of life.
“We are committed to opposing Sacramento’s overreach,” Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark said in a statement. “The City Council has instructed the city attorney to appeal and combat the state’s lawsuits attempting to impose unsustainable and irresponsible high-density housing on our city.”
City Attorney Michael Gates in a statement said the case is far from over, and said the state will have to continue to wait to get relief as the appeals process plays out.
The city has long argued that the state’s housing element law doesn’t apply to to Huntington Beach because it’s a charter city. An appeals court in January ruled that action can be taken against charter cities for not having a housing element in place.
Bacal said despite environmental concerns raised by the city in its arguments for why it didn’t adopt a compliant housing element, it still has to.
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